Mother was inspired to design a £36 'allergy-free' blanket for children after seeing her own three-year-old son's eczema flare up when he was wrapped in normal fabrics

• e-mail

A mother accidentally stumbled on a business idea when her baby son developed a severe case of eczema and she was looking for way to sooth it.

Kamila Thompson, from London, gave birth to her now thre-year-old son Anthony in August 2016. 

However, a few months after the birth, her son developed severe eczema caused by food allergies and the traditional blankets she was wrapping him in were irritating his skin further. 

The mother sought out material which would irritate his skin less - and came across soft minky and 100 per cent organic cotton - which she used to create a blanket for Anthony. 

The texture of the blankets helped to ease her son's skin and this inspired the creation of her company, Blanket & Co, which now sell organic eczema-friendly blankets and swaddles. 

A few months after birth her son developed severe eczema caused by an allergy to the blankets she was wrapping him in

Kamila Thompson (left), from London, gave birth to her now 3-year-old son Anthony (middle)  in August 2016. Pictured with her husband Richard 

 Kamila said: 'After a few months his skin started flaring up terribly, to the extent it was getting infected, and he was getting returning impetigo. 

'This resulted in him having to have antibiotics on a number of occasions, which we did not want to constantly be giving him but was necessary at the time.

Kamila sought out skin friendly fabrics for her son to make his life as comfortable as possible.

'We found the textiles commonly used in shops for blankets and swaddles often seemed to irritate his skin even more. 

Kamila sought out skin friendly fabrics for her son to make his life as comfortable as possible. This inspired her company Blanket & Co - which create eczema-friendly blankets and swaddles

'We suspected that he had some sort of allergy which was causing this, but really had to fight for a number of months to get a referral, all the while the skin constantly flaring up, getting infected, needing antibiotics, the same vicious cycle repeating itself over.   

Kamila admits that literally everything he touched seemed to irritate his skin: 'We would try to put him in a swaddle but it would stick to him, it made him uncomfortable and he absolutely hated it.'

Talking about creating the first blanket she said: 'Having a natural passion for design and creativity, I decided to source out some high quality fabrics that could look good and double up as comforting, non-irritating materials for him. 

Kamila admits that literally everything he touched seemed to irritate his skin. Anthony (pictured) is now eczema free

After much many long discussions with her husband Richard (left), they finally decided to take the plunge and design a whole range of blankets - one of which helped their sons skin (right)

'I initially touched base with some family who manufacture textiles and made some blankets – one side cotton, one side super soft minky. 

'These are extremely popular in my homeland of Poland, as they are great as covers in prams, or mats for picnics. Despite initially making them for fun, personally I was really pleased with the end product. 

'What’s more, we got a fantastic reaction from friends and family. After much procrastinating and uncertainty, and many long discussions with my husband Richard, we finally decided to take the plunge and design a whole range of blankets. We used pretty much every penny we had to create an entire range of products. 

The texture of the blankets helped to ease her son's skin and this inspired the creation of her company, Blanket & Co, which now sell organic eczema-friendly blankets and swaddles

'We only use sustainable organic cotton and bamboo textile, all of which have received Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certificate. We know our suppliers, we meet them regularly to ensure the highest quality. We are proud to provide our customers with a quality of fabric that is unrivalled, and simply not available on the high street.

The company, which officially launched this year, are selling the blankets,from £36, via their website are also supporting Evelina Children’s Hospital.

'A lot of children have allergies and skin issues but it really was heart-breaking seeing our little baby in pain and constantly uncomfortable and no allergy had even been diagnosed at this point, so it was continually flaring up as we were only ever treating the symptom not the cause,' Kamila said.

'It’s hard to relay how traumatic it was for a parent without sounding melodramatic, but there we were, desperate to intervene and help with our son being constantly infected, skin literally hanging of him requiring ever more antibiotics.  

Kamila started the company with her husband, in a bid to soothe her baby boys skin which flared up 

'We wanted him prescribed with non-dairy milk such as Neocate before he was even referred to Evelina, but one GP ”didn’t feel comfortable with that'. 

In fact, even after they had been referred and his cow’s milk allergy had been correctly diagnosed (along with others), on one visit a GP still told Kamila she was 'another fussy mummy following the latest eating fads'. 

'Finally getting to St Thomas allergy clinic (which is Evelina) really was like we had finally found some light at the end of a long tunnel. We told the doctors about our experience and started to find out (somewhat worryingly) that what we had experienced was actually very common.

Even after we had been referred and his cow’s milk allergy had been correctly diagnosed (along with others), on one visit a GP still told Kamila (middle) she was 'another fussy mummy following the latest eating fads'. Pictured with her husband and Anthony

'They were absolute experts in their field, actually the best in Europe, and did skin prick tests and blood tests. He was diagnosed with allergies to milk, eggs and nuts, and we finally got prescriptions for Neocate, a non-dairy milk. 

'It started to feel that after months of struggle, we were actually in a position where we were in the hands of experts who were used to dealing with these very issues, and they could not only be diagnosed, but dealt with in a way that would allow Anthony to lead a normal, comfortable existence.

'Inevitably the flare ups became less frequent and severe because we were not giving him something he was allergic to in the first place.   

'However, it is a long process and there were ups and downs and a lot of visits – and a certain amount of trial and error. It takes time to find out what moisturiser works best for instance, and every child is different. 

'To say it was life changing is an understatement, which is why we whole heartedly want to support Evelina Children’s hospital to give back what we can.

'We're pleased to report Anthony is now doing very well. We have to moisturise him quite a lot, and there is the odd flare up but on the whole as per the picture, is now a very happy three year old boy who likes running, climbing, jumping and being loud.'

Blanket & Co will donate £5 from every blanket sold to Evelina Children’s Hospital until Christmas  - with the money going to the allergy research department.